Story Of Stuff: Free Sample Essay To Follow

The podcast on bottled drinking water is an eye opener on how manufacturers exploit people’s ignorance and create market demand to sell a product that is totally unnecessary. Not just that, the product is very often inferior to something we get for free. The short film starts by explaining the concept of manufacture demand. When companies want to sell a product for which there is no real demand, they try to create an artificial demand. Demand for bottled drinking water is made by spreading rumors that tap water is unsafe for human consumption, and by claiming that the bottled water is the only good source of drinking water. Such false publicity and lies, scare people away from tap water and motivate people to use bottled water that cost thousand times higher. The demand is also created by seducing people through elite advertisement that claim pristine, serene environment as the source of bottled drinking water. In reality, the source of most bottled water is the very tap water we are scared of. The tap water is processed by these companies and packed in plastic bottles. The whole manufacturing process, consumes huge amount of cost and energy. The end product is drinking water in plastic bottles. The plastic bottles are dumped after drinking the water. These plastic bottles are non-biodegradable and harm the environment. The whole process of drinking bottled water to be safe from drinking tap water, is a futile exercise for the consumer and only benefits the producer. The best solution for everybody on the planet, would be to improve the quality of tap water, so that it is portable. The cost and energy spend in such endeavor is more meaningful than that spent in producing bottled water. I agree with the theme in this short film. Bottled drinking water is clearly an example of planned obsolescence. However, when customers realize that it is no more useful, it will become perceived obsolescence.